Forty-ninth session

7 August 1997

A long series of non-governmental organizations levelled charges of human rights abuses in countries around the world as the Subcommission began a third day of its annual review of the subject. Some 40 NGOs had registered to speak under this agenda item.

Those taking the floor alleged human rights violations in Colombia, Jammu and Kashmir, Western Sahara, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Sri Lanka, Burundi, Cambodia, Gambia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Togo, Tunisia, Tibet, Jerusalem, the occupies Palestinian territories, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Kurdistan, Iran, Cameroon, Kosova, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

VERENA GRAF, of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples, said the seven years since the Parliamentarians of Kosova had proclaimed a Constitutional declaration making it an independent and equal unit to the other units of the Yugoslav federation, little had changed, and Serbs continued to carrying out frequent violations of the rights of Kosovans, including murders by police, arbitrary arrests and weapons searches, hostage-taking, confiscation of passports, confiscation of real estate, and eviction from apartments. The plight of the Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka was rapidly deteriorating because of the ongoing war and the Government blockade imposed on the region; there also were enormous problems caused by the massive flow of refugees spurred by the fighting there. The League called for the further progress in Western Sahara leading to the holding of a fair referendum and an end to 22 years of conflict in the region.